Adult’s porn choices are often dictated by a subliminal association between a viewer’s self-image and generalizations about various adult porno genres. For example, a tough biker will more likely to be drawn to adult porn that features leather incorporated into the costumes of the performers’ costumes. This association with leather will lead the biker to more adult porn content in the BDSM realm, and this in turn will encourage the biker to develop a further interest in BDSM due to his subliminal association between his lifestyle and this genre of porn.
Adult’s form their personal identities mainly in their teen years, during a time when they are also faced with understanding sex and dealing with changing bodies. This is also the first time when many young adults’ porn preferences are first established. Perhaps it is one of the few choices adults make in the privacy of their own conscience, but an adult’s porn preferences often have some element of social context: as young boys, we often seek the peer support of our friends when venturing into something as taboo as adult porn for the first time, and this shared peer experience further binds developing adult’s perception of themselves in relation to the normality of porn as an entertainment resource.
Once we feel comfortable with the fact that we’re not abnormal for watching adult pornos, we are able to make it a more private act to watch porn. Adults are quite comfortable with themselves after years of being exposed to porn- which leads them to seek more exciting and new genres of porn to suit their sexual preferences, which are always tied back to our subliminal perceptions of self-identity.
